If you’re a new author, the struggle may be to try to write the perfect book. You’ll want the plot to be just right, every word to flow together, the world to be intriguing, and the list goes on. This is a great way to be, but in the end, you have to get the book out.

I find that a lot of new authors spend years on the first novel, and what ends up happening is that they’re getting so far behind the authorial writing curve that by the time their book is published, the market and the trends have changed substantially.

The experts on indie publishing are saying that the author gold rush is over, so those making it big on book 1 are few and far between.

Here’s the good news though: if you’re not in this for the money, then that should actually be fine with you.

Why? Because it allows you to build your business. Yes, yourbusiness. Writing is the art; selling is the business. And we have to view ourselves as entrepreneurs. If I didn’t look at myself this way, I would have quit a long time ago. I’ve thrown money all over the place, trying to find the right cover designers, the right marketers, the right this and that, and if this were just money that I was bleeding into a hobby, then I’m not sure I would be okay with that.

However, when I consider the fact that all new businesses and entrepreneurs make tons of mistakes early on, then I can stomach the losses with my chin up.

And here’s the exciting thing. Writing is a business that will always, always, always, have a product to sell, especially with the ebook boom. It’s not like we have to pay for our creativity as a person selling energy drinks must pay for materials and such.

We have an endless supply of resources, and you can scrimp by with covers, selecting inexpensive options such as Fiverr.com (a place where book covers can be created for 5$). Skip Starbucks for a day, and buy a cover!

But we have options as writers. However, the number one thing is to get your product to the people, and let them judge it for you. There are fans for literally every quirky genre out there. And now, more than ever, readers have the ability to lock themselves into their true niche markets, since there is such a wealth of writers out there.

Don’t be discouraged at the endless writers who are surfacing. Some have come into the business and left within just the 2 years that I’ve been around. I’ve seen new authors hold on and edit and tweak their new manuscripts to exhaustion, never giving themselves solid deadlines to get their books out.

But, if we view what we do as a business, that is not acceptable. And if you can’t put out new content and new material regularly (every few months or so), then this business is not for you.

That’s the harsh reality. But listen to this. If you hunker down and decide to write 1000 words a day, you can literally write a 100k word book in just over 3 months. That’s easy!

And look at it this way. If your novel is 75k words, then that’s a 2 and a half months. Add some time in there for editing, and you’re on track for 4 books a year! That’s remarkable.

You have to see yourself as a businessman/businesswoman if you want to be a full-time writer. Those who struck it big 3 and 4 years ago fell into the ebook boom and were lucky that the market was expanding. But now, we don’t have that option. The race is not given to swift, but to him who endures to the end.

Keep writing, keep writing, keep writing!! I’m such a champion for people who want to follow their dreams. But I get frustrated, because sometimes people don’t understand the level of tenacity they have to have to make it in this business.

Do you need to be a salesperson? Not really. Do you need to be a smooth-talker and go to conferences and retreats and the like? Nope! But you do have to sell, and you do have to learn the business. You have to be willing to fail. Because when you fail—and you will—that’s when you learn to get up, grit your freakin’ teeth, make a cup of coffee, pick up that laptop, and crunch out some words until your coffee is cold and stale.

Make goals. Make deadlines. Meet those goals. Tell yourself how you’ll feel when you don’t meet those goals. There are goals set for us every day at our jobs! Every single day! And we have no problem with them, because someone is holding us to them.

What about your goal to be a full-time writer though? What about that goal? Who’s holding you to it? No one. No one except your dreams. And your dreams are literally screaming at you every day to get up and produce! Stop making excuses. Stop letting yourself watch Vine after Vine or send Tweet after Tweet or take Instagram after Instragram or watch YouTube video after YouTube video. Stop reading about writing to pretend that you’re writing. Stop acting like merely thinking about the book constitutes as writing the book.

It doesn’t. You can effin’ do this! I promise you, you can. You can and there is a market waiting on you. You have everything you need to be successful. Don’t let another month pass without cranking out some words. You can literally have 30k words written by 3/17.

Think about that. That’s roughly a third of a book. Don’t worry about perfecting it. Just get it done. And once it’s done, then you can fix it. And here’s the thing. Once it’s done, you’ll be more motivated to fix it, because you’re that much closer to being finished.

Get back in the game, get your head on straight, and follow your dreams!

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So The Girl with the Scar has been free on all platforms for the past 3 weeks, and it’s been pretty interesting.

I bought one add from freebooksy.com for 50 bucks to promote the book and had about 2,000 downloads. That’s not so great, but what has been great is that book 2 was selling pretty steadily for about 2 weeks, and I ended up selling about 40-60 books in that time.

I continue to see 1-2 sales a day for book 2, but it’s looking like sales are tapering off. I did notice a spike in The Pioneers series after my free ad for the The Girl with the Scar, and I even had a few purchases for Seize the Soul.

More info to come as time progress.

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We talked about plot stealing in the last post. Now, I’m going to increase my thievery. We can even steal characters. Wow, that’s hard to hear. For some reason there’s the writers’ hubris that we must birth everything from our literary wombs.

That’s insane. How many times in an interview has the question been asked: “So where did you get your inspiration?” I’ve heard all types of artists respond by saying, “I modeled this after that.”

Have you ever listened to someone tell a story and think, “Man, that had all of the elements of a great story, but something just didn’t hit home”? Or have you ever listened to someone tell a story, but you found yourself filling in the details? These are two instances that the person telling the story was not, at that particular instance, being a good storyteller.

Were they telling a story? Sure. But were they being a storyteller? Not exactly.

Here’s an example:

1) There were two children, and one of them ended up getting kidnapped. It was pretty sad.

2) A boy of eight and his younger sister drifted away from their parents at the supermarket. No sooner had they left their mother’s side did a nondescript man of no less than forty invite the two of them to follow him to his car with promises of treats. The boy and his sister were never seen again.

Number 1 is just facts. Something you hear and shrug off. Number 2 gives those facts texture. It lets you put the children in a situation where the reader sees danger coming but can do nothing about it.

What happens with many authors is that they have a tendency to want to finish the story rather than tell the story. Having facts and events and emotions doesn’t make a story. Stories need movement and transition and momentum, kind of like pistons in an engine. Slowly they build and build until there’s a fluid motion.

It’s not enough that your hero came from rags, found a sword, and now must save the world. There needs to be texture to it.

Here’s another example.

1) The hero found a sword and he went to save the world.

2) Stout-hearted Hayden reached down and wrenched Excalibur from the stone. “If this is what I must do, then let it be done with honor.”

The two statements are saying the same thing, but one of them tells the progression of facts, as a reporter does with the news, and the other lets the motions of the character tell the story.

“Motions of the character tell the story.”

Let me reiterate that point. A good storyteller is able to tell a story…without telling a story. What the heck does that mean? It means that the characters are experiencing the story which allows the story to be told.

Look at the example above. One tells you that the hero found the sword. Two lets you see the hero find the sword and understand what he realizes he must do with the sword.

You’ve heard of the “show, don’t tell” adage. Well, this is what this is. Telling is reporting. Showing is storytelling. And if we want to be appreciated as authors, we in effect, cannot be authors. We must be storytellers! Story is King.

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I’m not a huge fan of Natalie Portman. Actually, I’m not much of a fan at all. I’ve tried to like her, but I’ve never been able to get past the lowercase acting. I know I’m going against the grain here, but guess what: This is my opinion, and I have a right to it.

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I’ve just released my first Urban Fantasy novel entitled, SEIZE THE SOUL. It’s the first book in a series called Confessions of a Summoner. Take a look, and if you’re interested, grab a copy and let me know what you think!

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Thanks to everyone who grabbed a copy of The Girl with the Scar. Since the free campaign was such a success (#234 in free category with #3 in epic fantasy category), I’ve decided to extend it for ONE MORE DAY. Free digital copies will be available for download until midnight 4/13. Get it while you can!!